Thursday, December 13, 2012

Local Lansing Michigan hot dog vendor Clint Tarver was catering for Americans For Prosperity during the right-to-work demonstrations at the State Capitol on Tuesday, when two men rushed into the tent. In a video interview with Breitbart News, Clint claims one of the men wore a "Devil Mask."

When reporter Lee Stranahan describes a Guy Fawkes mask, Tarver indicates that it sounds like that is what the assailant wore. Tarver was shown a photo of a Guy Fawkes mask after the interview and confirmed that it what the attacker who kicked over coffee machines and began attacking the tent with a box cutter, was wearing.

The Guy Fawkes mask is a symbol of both the Occupy Wall Street and Anonymous movements.

"The Guy Fawkes mask is a symbol of both the Occupy Wall Street and Anonymous movements" ... and?

Yeah, that's what happens when you make sweeping generalizations about folks...

(You make generals of... ...wait... ...nevermind.)

The individuals who mistreated the hot dog guy or his stuff or made racist comments to/about him were assholes. But it's absolute nonsense to suggest that any group to which they may've belonged (white, union, Democrat, Jewish, right-handed, Michigander, masked) are collectively responsible for their behavior. That's just straight-up bigotry...and not in keeping with all those pleas to belief in "individualism," besides.

You and me both... And it looks like Crowder's narrative is starting to unravel... Too many people asking about Breitbart-style selectively edited videos, and the fact that he didn't file a police report after the assault...and still hasn't. (Even the "frontier justice" wanted photos and posts offering rewards on the right wing sites have gone suspiciously quiet.) Wondering whether it's all going to go down a memory hole, only to return later as undisputed right wing "fact" that Crowder was set upon, unprovoked, by three--no FOUR--union thugs, out for blood. Me, I'd rather he just file a police report, and let the rule of law do it's thing. (I suspect Crowder played some part in the guy ending up on the ground and is trying to whitewash that part of the story, but that doesn't completely absolve the union guy's response, morally, at least.)